In honor of the long weekend in Canada and the U.S. we're once again giving away the legendary Firstborn of Euna.

Just log in to the game anytime between June 30, 2016 and July 4, 2016 and if you don't already have him, you'll receive this Legendary rarity creature absolutely FREE.

Enjoy your new card and we'll see you on the battlefield!

Today we've fixed a number of bugs, many of which were a result of the switch to the 8 gear cap.

BUG FIXES

1) Creatures like Raging Vines and Rotfeeder now receive their ability modifiers before "On Enter" effects occur. Now playing a Rotfeeder into a Shard Caltrops or Vial of Fire while there are 10 creatures in your graveyard will result in a damaged 5/5, not a dead Rotfeeder.

2) Steelbane Overwatch will no longer take damage from Shard Caltrops.

3) If you use Dravkas' Manufacture on a gear while you have 8 gear, nothing will happen (this will still use the charges).

4) Acquire can no longer be played if you already have 8 gear. It now has casting requirement of having at least one gear slot open. (No longer causes an error)

5) If you play Relic Hunter while you have 8 gear she will not steal a gear. (No longer causes an error)

CHANGES

1) The Advanced Tutorials now properly award 10 card, new Core packs.

2) Legacy Constructed tournaments are now properly labelled.

3) Acquiring Wilirus now awards Hexlifter Cleric instead of Thoughtful Cleric. The change from Thoughtful to Hexlifter in Core happened late in development and we missed this when the change was made.

We're proud to annouce the launch of a new era in Kingdoms CCG. In this release we've made a huge number of changes that will help new players get into the game, and will balance the competitive landscape.

TWO RULES CHANGES:

1) Gear is now limited to 8 slots. Kingdoms CCG is a game of embracing limitations - five cards in hand, three creatures in play, one rune word at a time - and using strategic play to win. Gear had always broken this rule. With no limits, many players played gear-centric decks with little to no interaction. This new rule allows gear decks to continue to be built, but forces these players to play more strategically, and interact with the opponent.

2) Standard and Limited deckbuilding must now use the "Standard Legal" card sets. This includes the new Core set, Light Ascending, Descent into Darkness, Gods Reborn, and the promotional sets: Promo, Arsenal, Guild, and Premium. All other cards can only be played in the Legacy format.

NEW CORE:

We've rebuilt the Core set from the ground up, adding many of the best cards from our first three expansions, while removing any unplayable chaff and many of the oppressive cards that reduced player interaction.

These packs are filled with goodness, including 5 of the top Legendary cards, for just 5000 Gold ("free" in-game currency) a pack.

There has never been a better time for new players to join.

FULL RELEASE NOTES

CARD BUFFS

• Rak'Mul is now 3/5 and deals 1` damage to enemy creatures on attack.
  
• Hose Down has been reduced in cost from 3 to 2 mana.
  
• Beastmaster now has the subtype Beast, but will not tutor for other copies of itself.
  
• Birth of a New God has been reduced in cost from 3 to 2.
  
• Return to Elements reduced in cost from 5 to 4.
  
• Cursed Reanimation has been reduced in cost from 4 to 3.
  
• Rotfeeder now has Corpsecraft.
  
• Vulgrath's Staff of Repression now triggers on Enter as well.
  
• Regen is now "Holy Armor" and grants both Regeneration and Armor
  
• Recoil has been reduced in cost from 3 to 2.
  
• Firespout Dragon's health has been increased from 3 to 4

GAME CHANGES

• Gear cap implemented. Heroes can have a maximum of 8 gear in play at any time.
  
• Standard and Limited formats are now only made of Core, Light Ascending, Descent into Darkness, Gods Reborn, and all Arsenal, Guild, Promo and Premium (aka Holiday) cards.
  
• All cards from Eve, Rise, Tribes and the old Core that are not in the new core are now in the Legacy expansion, and are only legal for Legacy play.
  NOTE: Alternate Art promo cards of cards that are in Legacy are NOT Standard legal. The expansion of the original version takes precedent.
  
• Tribes Two has been split. 2 rares from each Kingdom have been moved to Premium, and will remain Limited/Standard Legal. The Epic and Essence card from each Kingdom will remain in Tribes Two and will only be legal in Legacy.
  
• New Player decks have been updated to be Standard/Limited legal.
  
• New Player icons have been added at the 2000 and 5000 win levels.
  
• Player Profile pop up now shows cards collected from LA, DiD, Reborn and Legacy.
  
• The Volume of all of the Battle Music has been reduced to a more pleasing level.

STORE CHANGES

• "Holiday" cards are now called "Premium"
  
• Meta Pack cards now added to Premium section
  
• Beachball is available now in Promo Singles. It unlocks when you have 10 wins.
  
• Core Packs have been updated. Basic packs have 10 cards, including a guaranteed rare, Epic, or Legendary. Core Premium packs have a better chance at Epic and Legendary cards PLUS may include multiple rares.
  
• Eve, Rise, Tribes packs have been removed from the store.
  
• Starter Decks updated to only include cards in the new Core.
  
• "Featured" Kingdom-specific packs are now 10 cards and include cards from Light Ascending and Descent into Darkness
  
• Descent into Darkness and Light Ascending cards will now appear in the hourly gold Singles sale

ARENA CHANGES

• Legacy Arena added, Beginner Arena removed. Arena prizes adjusted for all Arenas.
  
• Beachball is now the Top 50 Promo card for the Standard arena. Nimble Fae is now the top 100 Promo card for Limited and Legacy arenas.
  
• Arena Prize levels have been adjusted.
  NOTE: Limited and Legacy arenas are showing the Standard prizing in their Leaderboards. Limited and Legacy prizes award fewer gems and the Alt Art uncommon rather than the Premium Promo.

BUG FIXES
Grovenhold's War March triumph bug has been fixed. Thanks to Mordoc for pointing this issue out to us.

TOURNAMENT CHANGES
The Tournament Schedule has received a full overhaul. Constructed Tournaments are now just Limited, Standard, and Legacy. Sealed and Draft are just Core and New Age. Yes, we now have New Age draft. Enjoy.

CRAFTING UPDATE

• Max Essence has been increased based on your crafting level. Level 10 can now use up to 350 Essence for a better chance at getting an Epic.
  
• The Elara's War crafting stone has been added to the game. Use it to craft any card from Light Ascending and Descent into Darkness
  
• Basic stones: Creatures, Spells, and Gear can now craft any card from Legacy, Core, Light Ascending or Descent into Darkness. The Rune Word stone will no longer be created in the game. Existing stones have not been adjusted.
  
• Eve, Rise and Tribes stones will now craft any card from the Legacy set.

CAMPAIGN CHANGES

• Single Card reward packs now only reward cards from Core, Ascend, Descent and Reborn
  
• Full rework of the prizes/vendors in the campaign to align with New Core/Standard

Quick update today with just a few fixes:

1) Titan Arbiter no longer prevents creatures from gaining abilities while it is a corpse.

2) An exploit that would allow cards from opposite Kingdoms to be used in decks (i.e. Elemental cards in a Mystical hero deck) has been fixed. Decks can no longer be saved with illegal cards in them and both the Arena and Guild Wars will now reject such decks, even if they meet all other deck building requirements.

3) We've also added some new code to allow for some new creature abilities in future releases (this has no impact in the current game).

Cheers!

The Meta Pack is here. 7 all-new cards to shake up the metagame. Available now with 2 copies of each card (14 cards in all) for $10. Cards will be available for Gems at the end of the sale period.

We've also taken the time to fix some outstanding bugs and make some balancing changes.

Updates:

• T'rror no longer reduces damage.
  
• Elara's Attack has been reduced from 4 to 3.
  
• Nourish has been dropped in cost from 3 to 2.
  
• Birth of a New God now costs 3+X mana, where X is the current turn number. Note that the 3 mana can be reduced, the X mana cannot.
  
• Olfaan's Scatter Shot has been moved from 6 charges to 7.
  
• Indestructible and Support have been added to deck building filters.
  
• New Prize Cards added: Helm of the Everwill, Nimble Fae and Exile
  
• Helm of the Everwill now available in the Rewards section of the shop (Requires at least 100 wins to unlock).
  
• MetaPack added for purchase in the shop.
  
• AI bug protection added. This will prevent "1009" errors from occurring during complex AI routines. We do not believe that we've solved all of the AI error issues, but this was a big one.
  
• Fixed Broken Node in Training Grounds

Full details on the balancing changes can be read on the official blog[blog.kingdomsccg.com].

Interface Changes:

1) Enemy AI heroes now have a "thinking" icon. To make it clear what is happening on their turn.

2) The Deck Builder now displays Kingdom icons for your Hero and each kingdom in your deck.

Bug Fixes:

1) Thania's Step Through Time will now properly prevent charges being added when used multiple times in the same turn.

2) The ability "Support" can no longer stack. Stacking never affected the ability, but it did prevent you from getting other, more useful abilities when granted by a randomized source.

3) Queen of Dragons has her Indestructible back.

4) Big Frosted Giant now properly gives Slow to creatures that attack it. The Slow stays for the attackers next turn.

Card Changes:

1) Mystery Sack mana cost dropped from 4 to 3. Happy Holidays!

2) Opus of Gadgetry now awards 2 charges in each ability instead of 3.

Hero Changes:

For a full overview of the changes with reasoning, read the full article here[blog.kingdomsccg.com].

1) ALL 15 Life/2 Mana heroes have been moved up to 16 life. Now the life/mana ratios have been balanced across all of the heroes.

2) Bothar's Wrecking Ball has been moved from 3 charges to 4.

3) Bothar's Crush You! now deals 3 damage to a creature instead of 4 and removes 2 charges from the enemy's third (aka Ultimate) ability only.

4) MEK's "Mechana War Banner" now reads "Ally creatures are +1 ATK and have Volatile. On your turn: If you control a 'Construct', draw a card.

5) Thania's Step Through Time has been moved from 7 charges to 8.

6) Noran's Polymorph has been moved from 7 charges to 6.

7) Nomad's Grand Theft has been moved from 7 charges to 6.

8) Olfaan's Stun Shot now always deals 1 damage.

9) Olfaan's Loot Corpse now always draws a card, gains 1 HP and 1 mana.

10) Olfaan's Scatter Shot now always deals 2 damage to each enemy creature and the enemy Hero.

Arena Prizing Change:

1) The Arena will now award Gods Reborn packs instead of Descent into Darkness.

2) The card prizes have been changed to Alt-Art Queen of Dragons (top players) and Alt-Art Swiftshot Ranger (participation). These prizes will be awarded in this season and the next.

Pack Changes:

1) Tournament Prize Packs, Training Ground Reward Packs and Gem Purchase Bonus Packs may now contain Gods Reborn cards along side the other expansions.

MEK, Felincia and Bothar are now available for purchase in the store.

MEK - the leader of the Mechana army, he builds the tools he needs to rule the battlefield.

Felincia - a cat warrior from a forgotten land, she harnesses the power of the old gods to bring armies to their knees.

Bothar - the enthusiastically violent giant. He loves to smash things and he's very, very good at it.

Additional Patch Notes:

• Noran's Inspiration now draws the next Spell from your deck.
  
• Grovenhold's Battlecry now grants +1/+1 instead of +0/+2.
  
• Arcanos now has a new 8th Triumph that can be completed
  
• A new achievement has been added for collecting all of Descent into Darkness. It awards 20 Gems.

All of our Gem Packs are now on sale for 20-25% off!

It's a great time to pick up some extra gems to crack open a box of boosters, or pick up that single to perfect your favorite deck.

The sale ends August 23, 2015. Don't miss out!

In our latest release we have made a number of balancing changes to improve older cards, and tone down some of the cards dominating the meta.

We've also made a number of bug fixes and have revised the hero Alisten to make her more fun than ever.

Changes Include:

NERFS MADE
1. Raise the Guard: Raised Mana Cost to 7
2. Iron Dragon: Drop HP to 3
3. Holy Charm: Reworded to “Your hero gains 2 HP. If your hero is Holy, they gain 3 HP instead.”

BUFFS MADE:
1. Perserve: Corpses now last two turns
2. Explosives Expert – Upped to Volatile 2
3. Ancient Being – HP raised from 2 to 3
4. Faithful Worshipper – Mana cost dropped from 4 to 3
5. Call to Arms – Mana cost dropped from 4 to 3
6. Spiked Armor – Mana cost dropped from 5 to 4
7. Ancient Dragon – HP raised from 4 to 5
8. Eternal Dragon – Now has Indestructible
9. Sanity Tapper – Mana cost dropped from 3 to 2
10. Puresoul Cleric – Mana cost dropped from 4 to 3
11. Mana Bloom no longer gains Strong. It actually gains ATK instead.

BUG FIXES:

• Added error protection to Thania’s 2nd ability to prevent it from creating DefID errors
  
• Fixed DefID errors with Summoner’s Gambit and Wealthy Benefactor
  
• Fixed Power Cast bug that would allow enemy to get benefit if you didn’t play a light alliance creature after playing the spell, and they did. 2012 bug… squashed.

Alisten Refactor:

• 1st ability now gives Intimidate to friendly creatures or timid to enemy creatures
  
• Dragon Calling now puts a random Ancient creature with cost of 5+ into your hand (not from your deck) rather than drawing a card. Yes, this can even get creatures that you don't own, so if you ever wanted to cast a Skybreaker Giant and don't have one yet, give the new Alisten a try!